We were so delighted to chat to Rhian Adams, an incredibly inspiring mother, athlete and award-winning personal trainer. She shares her extraordinary story, from her career in pre and postnatal training, to being a single mother to a child with additional needs.
If you have been aspiring to achieve your this year’s health/fitness goals and have not yet reached where you expected, we have got it sorted for you. Meet wone of the top fitness coaches in Dubai. Yes, we are referring to someone you could easily find lifting heavy weights at gym, competing as a bikini athlete, swinging across rigs in OCR races and making it all seem natural – Rhian Adams. She walks the talk and she cares for her clients. She is vibrant and vivacious and offers an enriching wellness oriented physical training program that will push progress through your journey of life transformation. Rhian has been making it big in the fitness industry for last twenty-two years and growing. Her devotion and commitment has brought her many awards and accolades including PT of the year thrice at the prestigious UAE Fit Awards, Fitness influencer of the year 2023 and Woman of Inspiration 2024.
Rhian is a fitness passion driven entrepreneur, who ensures that her clients experience life transformation through her work as well as tutoring a range of fitness courses for leading fitness provider Bodyhack. As a professional, she was recently awarded her ‘Advanced Exercise Specialist Certification’ by RepsUAE. Her qualifications include Level 4 strength and condition (specializing in OCR and bodybuilding), Level 4 Lower Back Pain and she specializes in pre and post-natal coaching.
Can you tell us a little about your career and professional strengths?
“My clients, both females and males are seeking something more profound than physical training and strength. They are in pursuit of life transformation and this is what my program are based upon. I love seeing my clients reap the benefits both physically and mentally as they gradually change their lifestyle by developing healthy habits and mastering them for life”. Apart from coaching, she shares her insight through health and fitness articles frequently in addition to short reels on her social media platform. She is authoring her new book “Beautiful Bump to Bulletproof Body” due to release by end of summer 2024.
You are a pre and post natal trainer. What are some of the common misconceptions and challenges faced by mums in terms of fitness during and after pregnancy?
As a pre/post natal specialist, mother of two, and certified Doula, Rhian has a huge passion for guiding women through a healthy pregnancy and becoming fit and strong afterwards. She says, “Pregnancy and early motherhood is such a special stage in a woman’s life and it’s a very beautiful journey for me to be part of. Only 25% of pregnant women get the recommended amount of exercise which is only 5 x 30 minutes per week, 3 out of 4 women don’t get the recommended amount of exercise. There is fear around exercising during pregnancy and a lot of misinformation that if you’re pregnant you have to stop and a false idea that exercise causes miscarriage or premature birth”.
Rhian Adams continues, “Over the last decade recent research has shown the wonderful impact that moderate exercise has on pregnancy – so much research suggests overwhelming benefits for both mother and baby. The ACSM and ACOG both recommend aerobic and resistance training (lifting weights) during pregnancy even if you haven’t exercised before and even if you have gestational diabetes”.
“I recommend you have an examination by the doctor to check for things like pregnancy induced hypertension, if there are complications, your carrying multiples or you are considered a ‘high risk pregnancy’ then follow your doctors advice and guidelines on exercise and rest recommendations”.
“On my first doctor visit at 4 weeks pregnant I was advised to stop everything except walking and swimming, the doctor didn’t know I was a pre and post-natal coach and tutor. I realized at that moment that the need was more than educating women around me but to educate and inspire medical professionals to have a greater understanding and make the appropriate recommendations. More and more gynaecology doctors are attendings the pre and post-natal certification courses that I teach to learn more about the benefits of exercising during pregnancy, the precautions, how to differentiate between myths and misconceptions. These courses give advice on how patients can exercise safely without supervision and how they can stay strong for motherhood under a supervision of a pre and post-natal qualified coach”.
What are the benefits of training through pregnancy?
Training through pregnancy reaps a whole lot of benefits for mother and baby – here are a few benefits you should tick off:
- Reduces aches, pains and the risk of lower back pain
- Reduced risk of gestational diabetes
- Prepares you for labour and birth
- Improves quality of sleep
- Prepares you for all the bending and lifting as a new mum
- Less unnecessary weight gain
- Preservation of lean mass
- Quicker return to strength and fitness
- Lower stress levels
- Increased circulation helps with cramping, swelling and varicose veins.
- You feel set up to become a fit mum, grandmother and great grandmother!
“There is also a huge gap that needs to be filled between giving birth and returning to exercise, this gap is the foundation of your future motherhood bulletproof body. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for a woman to be guided through some essentials with a coach involving rehabilitation, recovery, core strengthening to heal abdominal separation, rectifying imbalances, strengthening and correcting static and dynamic posture, pelvic floor health focus, deep tissue release, increase of body awareness and pro-prioception, diaphragm stretching, foot focus, mobility and flexibility to open up the body and nourishing bodyweight exercises. If you return to exercise without this foundation being built, you are missing out on the benefits you will reap but also put yourself at risk of injury, hernias, sprains, strains, stress fractures and worsening of your diastasis recti. Get an assessment with a pre and post-natal specialist and visit a pelvic floor physiotherapist before thinking of returning to your pre-pregnancy classes”.
What is your personal top tip for exercise?
“Exercising every day is far easier than exercising every other day, because it develops discipline and consistency. The recommended amount of exercise over seven days is just 22 mins per day. Exercising first thing in the morning is so beneficial to our mindset and helps us stay more focused throughout the day and prevents anything getting in the way of our workout time! So my biggest tip is – to exercise first thing every morning for 22 mins and include some resistance in that time!”
Do you have a health & wellness philosophy?
Real Fitness is about long-term positive lifestyle changes to become a happier and healthier person. In Rhian’s view, “My philosophy is that Fitness is about staying fit and healthy through each stage of life and as it goes through all external forces of life which is essentially aging, pregnancy, injuries, sickness but also day to day changes like moods, sleep quality, nourishment and nutrition. We can live and achieve our best life through active living and through moving, nourishing and believing”.
“Exercise and good nutrition choices are in a way therapeutic and empowering ways that help us all manage life trials and turmoil. If there is one thing that the previous few years have taught us all, it is that fitness extends so much more than the physical realm and maintenance of a bodily shape. It encompasses the mental, emotional and spiritual existence too which are all required to battle the many highs and lows of life, from sickness, to the unknown, to spontaneous vacations and even surprise pregnancies!”
What is your top fitness tip for ALL women but especially Pregnant and Post-partum mums?
“In 22 years of being in the fitness industry the number one reason people want my coaching is not to run a marathon, or achieve a specific goal, it’s to become a better version of themselves, their best-self, and the truth is we cannot become our best selves without healthy habits in place. A few healthy habits are eating nutritious foods, getting in the recommended amount of exercise, sleeping well, staying hydrated and keeping stress at a low level. So if we reframe and rethink of exercise as something that will make us ‘better’, a better mum, a better wife, a better colleague, feel better, look better and achieve more then we are far more likely to exercise regularly than feel like we ‘should, must, or have to’. We all want to become a better version of ourselves and health plays a huge part in that”.
Let’s take a moment to discuss your role as a Warrior Mommy
Rhian recently recognized as ‘Wondermum’ 2024 cares for her two adorable children Samson and Seren and mentors them towards a healthier and happier life. She dotes on them. Her daughter has learned from her mother about the importance of a healthy and fit body, therefore, she joins her every morning during Rhian’s workout. For two consecutive years Rhian has been organizing a “birthday sports day” for her daughter to grow the love for healthy life and fitness in her. As for Rhian’s own personal achievements, she is no stranger to the bodybuilder stage and is proud to have competed for the second time as a PRO athlete after becoming a mum.
Do you have any advice to impart on our readers?
In our efforts to achieve the most from our workout and training we make things complex, most certainly when it comes to losing weight, building stamina and staying fit. Rhian Adams advises to continue with simple routines and appropriate dietary choices to avoid frustration and demotivation. She also advises to avoid generalizations about fitness routine and mis-information. Social media is entertaining but everything it presents might not be accurate; therefore, she advises not to fully trust what is being said on social media.
She advises to build healthy habits gradually. One step at a time, we will achieve more than doing everything all together. She states, “Habits are mastered when they are introduced one at a time, and our bodies respond better if it’s given time to adapt to new stimulus progressively”.
Lose body fat the same way that you save money;
- A) How much do you make and spend each week?
- B) Where can you spend less and save?
- C) How much do I budget for a night out with my friends?
How this equates to nutrition would be;
- Track what you are eating each day over the week- what is your total calorie consumption? (FYI Research shows that writing it down doubles fat loss)
- What could you reduce or replace to consume less?
- How many calories do I need to budget for some flexible eating on the weekend.”
“My biggest nutrition tip, do not make any changes to your daily nutrition unless it’s for the long-term”.
“Temporary changes bring temporary results. The best way to ‘put on’ weight is to diet. We make big changes that bring results and then we revert back to our old ways because its not maintainable and quite frankly not enjoyable. For instance, modifying your breakfast from a bowl of granola to an egg white omelette in the morning, can you see yourself still having this egg white omelette a year from now? If not then its better to go with a full egg omelette with veggies, something that you can maintain and feel satisfied about afterwards but still brings your protein levels up, and carbohydrate sugars down in the morning to start the day”.
Let’s take a moment to discuss your son’s Angelman syndrome. Please share more about your journey after receiving Samson’s diagnosis and how it has shaped your perspective on life?
“I want to take this opportunity to share with you my personal story on having a son who has recently been diagnosed with Angelman syndrome. I’m sharing my story to raise awareness and help other families in our situation who have not had a diagnosis yet (over 50% of cases are misdiagnosed and millions worldwide are undiagnosed) and also to help someone that may benefit from my story”.
“First off I just want to explain what Angelman Syndrome is. Angelman syndrome is a rare and severe genetic disease that occurs in 1 in every 20,000 births. In the simplest of explanations, it’s because a little bit of maternal copy of gene Ube3a on chromosome 15 in the brain is missing or silenced”.
“It’s is characterized by severe developmental delays, intellectual disability, speech impairment, and usually comes with life threatening seizures and sleep disorders. There is a huge laundry list of what a child with Angelman syndrome will never do, he will never speak a word, never walk or stand, get married and they will never be able to live independently”.
“Along with this they usually have a very happy demeanour, are easily excitable, and are a huge joy to be around. My son’s name is Samson. He is 4 years old and he is pure joy. He is so sweet, gentle, very social and such a loveable character, even at a young age he is a bright and shining light in our lives”.
“I want to share with you how we came to receive this diagnosis. We started looking for answers at around 5-6 months old when we realised he was missing milestones, this was at the start of lockdown here in Dubai. He wasn’t sitting up, crawling, reaching or grabbing for anything, (our daughter was very fast developing so we tried not to compare him to that). He seemed to be in no rush, we thought he was a really laidback calm baby that was happy all the time, and we thought we had hit the jackpot. We went for his vaccines at 8 months old and the paediatrician told us she was concerned with his very low muscle tone, and inability to do certain things such as lie on his tummy or roll. She referred us to neurologist and advised that he get a MRI Brain scan, the scan actually came back normal but the doctor was not reassured, so we got few opinions from different doctors on the brain scan”.
“We personally reached out to a well established physician in UAE and he swiftly got us in to see Dr Haitham at Al Jhalila hospital. We were still in the dark at the time but he didn’t want to waste a moment and got the full genetic testing screening done whilst we were there. We started physio at Latifa hospital at this point with a fantastic PT called Freddy while we were waiting for results. We received a phone call from Dr Haitham to come in, (he had told us in the initial meeting that if it was something serious he would call us in) so at that point we knew it wasn’t great news”.
“As a mother and a father to hear this diagnosis for your ten month old son, that he will never talk, walk, stand, ever be in dependent, it really threw us, our lives came to a halt and we grieved over the news. It did however give us an explanation for the differences we had noticed. Samson still hadn’t seen us or identified us visually which as a mother and father when you walk into a room and your son doesn’t see you is rather disheartening. At 11 months Samson had surgery on his eyes to rectify the rare form of squint that he born with (congenital exotropia) but was still yet to see us until 18 months old. We believe that he had developmental delay with his vision and that with time he will be able to see us soon”.
“Since Samson’s diagnosis we have had 18 hospital admittances and over 30 hospital emergencies. The longest hospital stay was 28 days, for the whole of the month of April in ICU intensive care, he was critically ill. I didn’t know if he was going to make it. His suppressed immunity and inability to swallow fluids resulted in two severe pneumonia’s in a short space of three months and it hit him hard”.
“Thanks to the power of prayer he made a full recovery and continues to do so with every struggle and medical battle he faces. He has had three surgeries, month long bouts of seizures and requires oxygen to recover from the most common viruses or bacterial infections. We have a home oxygen concentrator machine so that we can care for him as much as we can at home and a PEG tube fitted for water consumption to avoid the risk of pneumonia which is a common cause of death in Angelman syndrome. Between his struggles Samson is making amazing progress, he learnt to sit up at 18 months, to crawl at 2.5 years and has recently started taking independent steps! He also responds to his name and 3-4 simple cues”.
“This journey is hard, in the beginning I didn’t think I was capable of being Samsons mum and navigating this journey and the challenges we would face. I now know deep in my heart and soul that I’m called to be Samsons mum, that I am capable of being what he needs me to be and to do what I can for Samson to live his best life and reach his potential. I believe that Samson has a meaning and a purpose, he is created uniquely just like each and every one of us, he is destined to be here, at this point in time, in this generation and that miracles are going to happen in his life”.
“Two years ago I realized I needed to navigate this journey alone as a single parent, its been tough but I know God’s hand is on us and has provided people to help us in all that we are going through, and I believe that he will continue to do so”.
What does the future look like for Samson?
“I have a lot of hope and faith in Samson’s future, I believe that anything is possible, that there are no limits to what Samson will achieve and I will be expecting miracles. The conclusion we arrive at is dependent on the belief system that we start with. It sounds so ridiculous to say but one day I believe one day Samson will be doing pull-ups with me”.
“I have a lot of hope in the research going on to find a cure for AS, there are 23 therapeutic programs moving towards clinical trials. They have cured it in the laboratory so it’s really exciting that there is a cure on the horizon! The hope of a cure is one thing and it’s so exciting but on the other hand our brains are capable of so much change. The more I learn about neuro genesis and neuro plasticity, the process of creating new connections in the brain to help develop new capabilities, the more amazed I am. For example- if a child had a stroke which led to damage in one part of the brain, we now know that other parts of the brain will organize and take over roles that they wouldn’t usually do. The brain has a remarkable ability to change”.
What does a normal day look like for Samson and what are his needs?
“I wait for our dog Chica to tell me Samson is awake. Samson is non verbal but also doesn’t have the ability to cry, so I have no idea he is awake unless he picks up his crinkly sound cotton book or I hear a soft whine, his melatonin sees him through till around 1 am then any further sleep is a bonus! He may play alone for a few hours at night then sleep again until morning”.
“He sleeps in a sleeping bag even at 4 years of ago to stop him climbing out of the safety side on the bed. Seren my daughter sleeps with him and this has been one of the best decisions because since then he has slept so much better. On waking he has two seizure medications along with vitamin b6 to stop the aggressive and anxious side effects of one of the medications”.
A normal day for Samson:
- He has his breakfast which is low carbs to reduce his seizures. Chia seeds, unsweetened almond milk with peanut butter protein powder, at the same time he will have his water pumped through his peg tube over a 45 min period: he will get 240ml of water. He is learning to eat himself which is a slow process: everything takes ten times longer to learn something because of his intellectual disability but at the moment he is able to pick up the spoon from the bowl and put it in his mouth and he is then dropping the spoon. Usually on the floor, you need to be quick to catch it! Haha
- We will then mobilise, every joint in his body starting with the ankles: then knees. hips etc. this is so important to do daily. His body gets jammed up quickly and easily from seizures, from not being as mobile as the rest of us and not having that instinct to move out of uncomfortable positions or postures. We activate his core and we get his legs working independently. He has one lazy leg, he unfortunately developed a blood clot in his leg during a month long hospital stay and it has had a long lasting impact on his development you’ll notice it in videos and even as he sits it sticks out to the side, but it’s improving!
- We then walk the dog and we take his walker to do little spurts of walking, we are now working on uphill and downhill, the control going downhill is difficult for him but he loves the increased speed! We use the ramps and toys are great for motivating him. We see the staff in the building every morning and he gets to say hi and has a few cuddles and spin arounds on the reception chair. He loves spinning and swinging.
- Then we will go into the play studio in the building and work intensely on walking alignment, holding his hips while he walks, then walking with assistance and then walking along the pool fence and corridor bars on both sides. It’s all to build connections in the brain and give him the independence to move around which makes him so happy. He cannot talk to communicate with us but he has just started guiding me and pulling me with one hand to go where he wants to go! Which is communication and it feels so good.
- He then has a full fat Greek yogurt snack and more water through a syringe, in Dubai he needs a lot more water compared to being in the UK on holidays for instance because of the weather . we will then play a game on the iPad to learn how to respond to start and stop. This has been so difficult to “stick” but even though he is four years old intellectually he is still really young like maybe a 10 month baby at a guess.
- We then do more movement and we hit the stairs to climb on hands and knees and also along the bars. It took Samson 2.5 years to learn to crawl and was a huge celebration and now be is crawling up the stairs it’s amazing to see. Because honestly for the first two years of his life the sensitivity in his hands was so extreme and he kept them like solid tight fists. He couldn’t put any pressure on them. Every day I had to massage his hands to reduce sensitivity and get them to open up.
- Lunch and dinner he gets chicken avocado and vegetables but he does enjoy rice cakes at 4 pm sharp, if it’s not ready on the dot he will let you know about it. This kid loves his food so much.
- At the end of the day me and Seren discuss the best, worst and funniest part of the day. We guess Samson’s for him. The worst part for him is always finishing his food, it’s just the worst thing in the world when the bowl is empty. The best part of the day for him is when he sees the rice cakes come out of the drawer, I’ve never seen excitement like it!
- Most of his training is done in the morning. The evening he doesn’t want to push at all, I get it, we are all done by 4-5 pm, right. He will do standing and assisted walking but lots of resting and playing, he will spend over 30 mins in the bath as he is water obsessed and it means I don’t have to go swimming every day.
- We will walk Chica again in the evening but this time he will be pushed along in the pram watching Seren on her glow up scooter and staring in awe at the shadows on the floor.
- He has his two seizure medications before bed along with b6, melatonin and water through the syringe. He the falls asleep with me and Seren reading a book next to him. I sleep on the blow-up mattress next to them for a few hours then I’ll go into my own bed around 11pm. I do this to get a comfortable few hours sleep and purposely not be there when he wakes up to play as he will get me up for the day.
- There’s only so much sleep deprivation I can take before feeling unsafe on the roads and like I can’t fully function. Twice a week I have a night nanny and I hit the pillow with tears of relief usually that I can do through the night without any thoughts of worry.
What are some of the risks for Samson with his condition?
“Viruses – RSV, anything that affects the chest, or is pretty hard hitting that could develop into pneumonia. His lungs have been through a lot due to viruses and aspirating on breast milk and other fluids when he was younger, so he has needed oxygen to recover from simple colds and viruses”.
“He isn’t able to swallow and one risk with Angelman children is that they often dehydrate, especially when sick, as they don’t consume enough water. Samson does take a few sips of water but he doesn’t want it and although this is somewhat a habit from not actually drinking water at all these last few years, I also think it’s an Angelman thing and would be a risk for us which I don’t have to worry about now with his use of a peg tube. The risk is when his peg tube comes out and the hole closes up because then he is unable to have any water and if the hole closes up completely he needs to have surgery to put it back in”.
“His seizures are a risk. I worry about regression. I worry about seizures in the night. I worry because other Angel children have died due to big seizures or brain injuries from seizures. Samson commonly has absent seizures. His medication has increased over the years since he was 13 months old when his seizures started which kills me. I tried a keto diet for him when the medication was not enough to stop his seizures and it worked but then constipation became an issue as scans would show his bowels were just full. So we are on a low glycaemic index diet with a relatively low dose of medication and this has managed to keep the seizures under control”.
“When he is walking seizures pose a greater danger as he will just fall on the floor, my friend’s Angel child at 21 years old has needed to wear a helmet for safety”.
“His intellectual disability means a lack of awareness on what is safe and unsafe and this is what I see in older Angel children. Even though some are able to be potty trained, swim and do incredible things. Without a cure they wouldn’t have a sense of road awareness or anything like that or what is safe to swallow”.
“Other risks include choking as they tend to swallow food without completely chewing. I have an emergency choking device and I make sure any food served to him is in small pieces. They are also fussy with new foods which can result in vomiting and not having that body awareness or instinct to turn when vomiting at night can be dangerous have led to deaths amongst Angel children. Also a general awareness of swimming, that you cannot breathe underwater and that it’s not out safe to stay there, is something I’m not sure will develop over time”.
Do you think Samson will ever live a full life?
“I look around at the world today and the humans that are living in it and I feel it is a very rare thing to see someone living a full life”.
“Is a full life being happy? Living a life of happiness? Because I believe Samson experiences more joy in his daily life than most of us do. Maybe this will change as he gets older and experiences communication challenges and maybe he will develops anxiety because of it. One of the characteristics of Angelman syndrome is excitability and happiness. as it used to be called ‘happy puppet syndrome’. He is on a different frequency to us: he is pure, innocent, incapable of being bitter, holding grudges, comparing, hating, thinking negatively and I believe being unhappy. I could be wrong but Samsons happiness regardless of his limitations puts him in sharp contrast to the rest of us”.
There is hope for a future cure, the potential is exciting!
The last two years I’ve travelled overseas to Miami to attend a “dream big” conference about curing Angelman syndrome driven by FAST (the Foundation of Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics). They represent a growing team of clinical scientists, researchers, parents and other professionals that are driving forward the mission to finding a cure. There are four different therapeutic approaches, and 23 programs in the Angelman syndrome therapeutic pipeline. 13 of these are funded by FAST and 4 of them are currently in clinical trials”.
“We are unable to fundraise here in Dubai, so I’m doing my absolute best to raise awareness and have sent a proposal to the embassy requesting the permission to raise funds here. We have an Angelman clinic set up in Dubai recently and that is exciting because clinical trials can potentially be held here in the future”.
“We have also set up a FAST ATHLETES so that myself and a few others can help the community of parents become fit and healthier on their various journeys. I held Bootcamps in Miami on the morning of the conferences and myself and three others held a fitness challenge in the 10 days leading up to it. It really helps build connections with others and spend time together with those who understand the journey that you’re on”.
Connect and book with Rhian Adams on Instagram: @rhian_adams_athlete
Image Credit: Rhian Adams